All the Arts, All the Time

Spring arts preview: Architecture

March 6, 2011 | 11:00
am

A look ahead at the spring season in architecture:

‘Sustainism’

We’ve had modernism. We’ve had post-modernism. And now architecture and design are on the verge of … “sustainism”? That is the contention of authors Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers, who will visit Southern California to read from their new book “Sustainism Is the New Modernism,” a manifesto of sorts for a new unifying theory of architecture incorporating not just green design but also collaboration and ethical behavior to create “a new vocabulary and a symbolic language for a new era.”

Is Los Angeles still a center for architectural innovation? Certainly when it comes to the world of digital fabrication — essentially, using software to design and manufacture new building forms — the region appears to have lost none of its edge. “Material Beyond Materials,” a two-day conference hosted by the Southern California Institute of Architecture and open to the public, will explore the latest breakthroughs and frontiers in this field, with speakers including Greg Lynn, Hernan Diaz Alonso and Nader Tehrani.

Let's hope CicLAvia is on the verge of becoming a regularly scheduled event, a reliable presence on the civic calendar for years to come. After the success of last year's CicLAvia, which closed nearly eight miles of L.A. roadway to cars in favor of cyclists and pedestrians, organizers decided to bring it back not once but on three Sundays in 2011, the first planned for April 10.